


Muddy Waters

by TheWildDays



Category: The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, M/M, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:27:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23581594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWildDays/pseuds/TheWildDays
Summary: Esca is a merman that is caught, sold to a Circus and treated cruelly. Marcus is a muscled and good hearted giant that takes a liking to him.
Relationships: Marcus Flavius Aquila/Esca Mac Cunoval
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	Muddy Waters

~~***~~

The rumor spread around the circus like a wildfire. There had been a new addition to the ensemble. Or rather, to the beasts stalls. Marcus couldn't believe his ears when he first heard about it.  
A mermaid? No way. Sure, he had seen many strange and unbelievable things during all the years spent with the freak show. But a legit mythological creature had never travelled with them.

It must simply be someone with their legs grown together, he reasoned. He had heard of such oddities. Surely, the director would have them sit on a rock in a large bucket of water with some costume and decoration, but that would be it. They wouldn't be able to swim like that, surely. Well, you never know, Marcus thought to himself. 

As demystifying as being at the backstage of the giant circus was, Marcus was still curious about this new "member of staff". He decided to peek around a bit after finishing his chores for the day.

It took him longer than he had expected so he only managed to slip into the beasts' stalls at dusk. They consisted of all the beasts' wagons parked in two rows, the open sides with bars facing each other with a canopy ceiling above the makeshift alleyway. The two headed dog barked at him but he managed to shush him up quickly. It smelled of dung and wood shavings. His steps were luckily muffled by the damp earth and the grass. 

There was light at the end of the path where there had been a new wagon set up. Marcus hadn't really expected to find the "Mermaid" with the beasts because obviously even a human with their legs fused was still a human. It was horribly degrading for a person of sound mind to be housed with the animals. Surely, not even the freak show's director would be that cruel.

Marcus slowed down when he heard low voices and saw movement in the low light of the oil lamps that were hanging from small hooks attached to the wooden trailers. Leaving the path through a gap between two trailers, he sneaked around the back in the dark. He knew there was no other way. His tall and broad statue would have easily been spotted if he had carried on down the straw littered path. 

He could hear three voices conversing excitedly.

"Simply fascinating, don't you agree, gentlemen?", he could hear the director's sneering voice.

"Truly, Sir."

"Inform the staff to feed it some fish twice a day. Now we only need another tank in the arena and a way of transporting it there for the show."

"What do you think about taking it up to the rafters and letting it drop into the tank from above? For dramatic effect?", asked a younger voice.

"Or we could...", interjected a third man.

"Now, now. Let's brainstorm ideas for the performance later. We still have a few days to find out if it can do any special tricks. Now, let's have a drink and congratulate ourselves on our luck that brought about this extraordinary purchase." The voice if the director was full of pride.

Marcus tried to calm his breath. It. So it was a creature and not a deformed human. He wondered what it could possibly look like.

"A mermaid. In my circus. Magnificent!", he heard the director say as the three men walked away.

Inching closer step by step, Marcus approached the lit path again. Creeping around a drawbar and down the alley to the last trailer, he squinted through the darkness. The only thing he could make out through the bars was that there was indeed a large tank full of water in the circus trailer.

Taking a few small steps forward, ever cautious, he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what was inside the tank, moving in the darkness. His heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't - it couldn't be human. But Marcus could definitely make out limbs that resembled arms and pale skin of a naked human looking torso writhing in the dark water. The glittering of scales in the dim light of the oil lamps. There was frantic movement, the water sloshing over the sides of the tank.

Taking a step closer, Marcus could now distinguish a long dark blue tail whipping through the water, resembling that of a giant serpent with one long wavy fin along the spine of it that looked a lot like ripped spiky fabric. Light blue stripes like a tiger's, the end of the tail splaying out into a wide caudal fin, only shortly visible. It flitted in and out of sight, the tail coiling around itself while the creature tried desperately to move around in the tank that seemed way too small for it.

Marcus instantly felt a pang of pity, his heart aching at the sight of the poor creature thrashing around with what must be fear and panic. He moved closer despite his own fear of the vicious animal, making low shushing noises at the glass of the tank, hoping it would help.

Even like this, Marcus could see the beauty of the sea creature. The men had been right. It was magnificent, fascinating, enchanting, otherworldly.

Another step further and his hand was reaching through the bars of the circus trailer, towards the glass of the tank. He could see his own reflection in the dark gleaming surface. His broad chest in his dirty white work shirt, only one strap of his denim overalls still on his shoulder. His brown hair ruffled, the tan skin of his face dirty with grime from his chores earlier that day.

As soon as his hand touched the glass, the creature instantly stopped writhing around, freezing mid movement, the sloshing of the water subsiding. It must have felt the vibration. Marcus also froze, scared of the consequences of what he might have done. He hadn't wanted to scare the creature even more.

After a moment, it started moving again, very slowly this time. Marcus could see the tail curling in slow motion, tiny fins at the sides flicking slightly. The creature uncurled and the white form moved closer, the outline of an almost human torso becoming more pronounced until - a white hand suddenly pressed against the glass, webbed fingers scattering over the surface, searching for the source of interruption. 

At the sight of the hand, Marcus had quickly withdrawn his own, frightened. His heart was still racing while he watched another hand join the first, both of them now searching around. It took him a moment to calm down. 

His breath now more controlled, he reached out once again, his fingers carefully touching the glass of the tank where the webbed hands were still flitting around. They stilled at once and Marcus now saw the light blue speckles on them. He moved his other hand to the cold surface too, causing the creature to pull its hands back. But they were at the glass again only seconds later.

Slowly, very slowly, the rest of the creature moved closer and Marcus forgot how to breathe as a face emerged from the darkness. As white as the hands, with light and dark blue speckles on temples, nose jaw and neck. Hard and slim facial structure with animalistic features, pointy and webbed ears and eyes that darted around and changed colour from light to dark blue to black and back again, slightly catlike pupils that dilated and constricted restlessly. 

The creature's torso was heaving and, Marcus noticed, the gills beneath it's jaw were also flaring in a fast and unsteady rhythm. Blue scales were strewn all over its white skin and accumulating on the lower abdomen to form the beginning of the sleek tail. It's chest looked mostly human, wiry and flat chested, shoulder's broad enough for Marcus to be sure that this resembled a male human rather than a female. A merman then, he concluded.

He looked up, wide eyes meeting his. He started to slowly move his hands as if stroking the glass, crooning comforting words at the creature. The merman calmed slightly, panicked fidgeting becoming less, pupils constricting somewhat. Marcus felt himself relaxing a bit. 

He must have moved a bit too quickly without noticing because the next moment, the merman drew back, baring his sharp fangs. Marcus drew in a shocked breath. He was impressed, to say the least. This creature was so beautiful, strong and dangerous but at the same time so horribly lost and scared in this tiny tank of water surrounded by dry land for miles around. No way to escape. Marcus felt sorry for the poor thing.

The creature´s face was screwed up in anger, his short hair billowing like seaweed in the water, making it look like it was standing up as was usual with angry or scared animals. Marcus slowly backed away from the menacing merman, his hands slightly raised in surrender. The creature continued baring its fangs at him.

He decided to leave it be, let the poor thing get some rest. And he could use that too, he reminded himself. It had been a long and hard day. If he had wanted to calm a human, he would have left the lights burning all night but he thought better of it. The creature must be used to the black blue of the deep sea so it would take much more comfort in darkness than in light. He walked from one oil lamp to the other - slowly, as not to scare the merman even more - extinguishing them all, save for one that he took on his journey. 

Reaching the door of his caravan, he turned around once more, not knowing why. When he neither heard nor saw anything alarming he closed the door behind himself and locked it for good measure. With such queer folk around, you never knew. Better safe than sorry. He had learned this the hard way in his first year travelling with the circus. He was glad he had his own caravan now.

He retired to his cot and shifted around a bit before finding a comfortable position. He stared at the darkness for a while, unable to drift off to peaceful sleep. Adrenaline was still pumping through his veins. When he finally fell asleep his dreams were filled with images of dark waters and menacing sea creatures.

~~***~~


End file.
